1993 Red Honda Civic - Extreme Makeover

[CarGirl]

THANK YOU!!

Mike P, Mike P, Lt1Corvette and Meguiar's, THANK YOU for an amazing before and after on my husband's Civic!

My father in law came over for dinner on Saturday and literally jumped back when he saw the transformation that the car had been through!

Now I've got just one question....Anybody wanna buy a Civic?

[Mike Phillips]

Products and Process

First we de-greased and dressed the engine compartment. You'll be able to read about the products and process used for this in a separate thread. The important point to learn from this is that when doing a complete detail, the first procedure is to degrease and dressing the engine compartment.

After we de-greased the engine compartment with Meguiar's Super Degreaser, and then dressed the engine with Meguiar's Hyper Dressing, we closed the hood to begin washing the exterior.



We will now close the hood and let the Hyper Dressing dry while we continue with the extreme makeover





Ready to wash


Mike

[HotRodGuy]

Re: THANK YOU!!

Originally posted by CarGirl
Mike P, Mike P, Lt1Corvette and Meguiar's, THANK YOU for an amazing before and after on my husband's Civic!

My father in law came over for dinner on Saturday and literally jumped back when he saw the transformation that the car had been through!

Now I've got just one question....Anybody wanna buy a Civic?

5 speed?

[Mike Phillips]

When washing the car, most people recommend starting at the top and working downward. Here in Southern California the warm temperatures will dry your water off quickly, potentially leaving water spots on your car's finish. Because the wheels and tires on this car were extremely dirty, we decided to wash them first to give them some extra attention, (We scrubbed them down twice!).

Because washing the wheels and tires will usually result in more water landing on the surrounding painted panels, we didn't want to wash the car first and leave water on the finish while spending time on the wheels and tires, and we didn't want to wash and then dry the car before moving to the wheels and tires because the surrounding paint would just get wet again. For these reasons, we washed and rinsed the wheels and tires first, we used wheel brushes and Meguiar's All Purpose Cleaner






Note: On another forum, I read a post by a member that when they used a tire dressing on their tire, it turned their tire brown. Actually, it's highly unlikely the dressing turned the tire brown, a better explanation was the tire was brown to start with and the person did not clean the tire effectively, or thoroughly enough before applying the dressing.

I checked with the CarGirl about her tires and she said that in the last 10 years they had not applied any dressing to the tires. As you can see by the picture below, the All Purpose Cleaner is loosening and removing a lot of brown gunk from the tires. This by the way was the second time we scrubbed them! The point being, tire dressings, at least Meguiar's tire dressings don't turn tires brown, in fact, just the opposite, they help keep them black.




The browning you see on the outside of your car's tires is the result of the Antiozonants rubber manufactures put into the rubber to keep the tire from deteriorating.

Antiozonant is an ingredient that helps to prevent the exterior rubber surface from cracking, checking, oxidizing, and deteriorating. The rubber is designed in such a way as to allow the antiozonants to constantly work their way to the outside of the tire and as such, continually replenish the exterior surface with fresh antiozonant.

After the antiozonant works its way to the outside of the tire and is exposed to the ozone in the air, it turns brown. The technical term for this effect is called, "Blooming".

This is why you see a brown film on the surface your tires. You can wash your tires with soap or an all-purpose cleaner and remove this film, but in a few weeks, it's back. That's because the antiozonant continually works its way to the outside of the tires every time you drive your car.

For more information on why tires turn brown and products that will help prevent this while giving your tires a rich black look, check out the answer to this question in Meguiar's new FAQ,

1. Which Meguiar's products should I use on my tires?

[HotRodGuy]

interesting, I didn't know that Mike

[Marc08EX]

Originally posted by Mike Phillips



Mike [/B]

Hey Mike,

Did you cover the alternator and the distributor cap prior to spraying it with the degreaser and hosing it down? That's one of my main concerns in washing the engine compartment.

[Lt1Corvette]

Re: Re: THANK YOU!!

.

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by Bri
Hey Mike,

Did you cover the alternator and the distributor cap prior to spraying it with the degreaser and hosing it down? That's one of my main concerns in washing the engine compartment.

No, we were just careful not to directly blast these areas with the pressurized water. Sorry to be a damper here, but let's save the detailing questions for the engine detailing thread. I'll post that after this write-up.

Mike

[magnus]

Note: On another forum, I read a post by a member that when they used a tire dressing on their tire, it turned their tire brown. Actually, it's highly unlikely the dressing turned the tire brown, a better explanation was the tire was brown to start with and the person did not clean the tire effectively, or thoroughly enough before applying the dressing.

Hey Mike, I was directed by Meguiar's Customer Service to use EXTRA to clean the 'brown' off the tires before dressing. Even after using a scrub brush, I nearly wore my fingers raw, and still had the browning return within a week after applying two coats of Endurance.

My question is: Is the APC a stronger cleaner than the EXTRA? Would using APC have made the job any easier?

[benhui86]

wow. ... the car looks like it just went off the dealer lot b/c the dealer detailers got to it.... u guys are amazing

[imacarnut]

Re: 1993 Red Honda Civic - Extreme Makeover

*bump* for an oldie but goodie thread!